As known in the art, a hand tool may be used to engage an integrated circuit chip and either install or remove the chip from its installation. A typical tool utilizes a set of jaws each having a row of teeth for insertion between the pins of the chip. In the typical prior art tool, the jaws are held in the closed position with spring tension and are forced into the open position with a hand operated plunger which may be forced between the jaws may be positioned to accept a chip within and have the teeth aligned with the spaces between the pins.
In this engaged position, an integrated circuit (IC) may be removed from its installation by exerting a pulling force on the tool so that the underside of the chip is engaged by the teeth and the pulling force is distributed between the teeth in the pulling direction and the chip is removed. It is important to exert the pulling force in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the installation so that the chip is removed straight out.
This prevents the bending of the chip's pins which are extremely delicate. This is often difficult to achieve, especially with chips having a larger number of pins, because of the high degree of hand-eye coordination required. Although many IC chips are mounted in sockets whereby the chip is held in place merely by the spring tension exerted against individual pins in their sockets and other chips may be similarly susceptible to easy removal, some installations require that a chip be bonded on its underside with a heat conductive adhesive to a heat sink. The removal of such a chip with a prior art hand tool without bending any pins and damaging the hand tool is extremely difficult at best.
In the manufacturing of the disk drive, many components with high electrical sensitivities are fabricated and manufactured. Devices such as the heads, sliders, etc., have electrical sensitivities to electromagnetic interferences or electrostatic discharge that requires the manufacturing environment worker to exercise great caution in the manufacturing of these components. Integrated Circuit components such as suspensions comprise of conductive materials which tend to have conductive traces that are typically supported by insulative materials to help reduce the potential for electrostatic discharge or electromagnetic interference. When the suspension or similar components come into contact with each other.
Having a IC component removal tool that is durable and also prevents the potential for electrostatic discharge by the components during manufacturing is crucial to reduce cost and ensure component integrity.
Therefore, what is need is a flexible way of component fabrication and manufacturing and removal that does not result in damaged components and result in unnecessary expense and waste.